Sikhs in Malaysia have been requested to decline invitations to events in Malaysia involving India Prime Minister Narendra Modi who will be making his maiden visit to later this week.

The resolution was collectively adopted by a group of Sikhs representing 22 organisations in a meeting on Monday (16 Nov 2015) in Petaling Jaya.

“All Sikh NGOs/individuals are advised to stay away and not attend any function or programme held in conjunction with the visit of PM Modi, due to PM Modi’s failure to issue a statement condemning the attacks on the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the violations of human rights against the Sikh protesters,” read one of the four resolutions adopted at the meeting.

The resolutions were made public via the social media today.

This is the second major move by the so-called Task Force which first met to organise a peaceful gathering at the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur with regards to the spate of desecration.

They had also hand delivered a memorandum, signed by 30 Sikh organisations and 125 gurdwara sahibs in Malaysia, addressed to Prime Minister Modi and Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal.

At Monday’s meeting, the Task Force stopped short of adopting a call to boycott Sikh organisations that chose to attend events connected to Modi’s visit to Malaysia.

“I’m glad they dropped that call. I was uncomfortable with the idea. Some may chose to attend for reasons best known to themselves. You can’t stop them,” one Sikh NGO official told told Asia Samachar.

It is understood that some Sikh individuals and Sikh organisations plan to attend some of the functions.

“I fully supported them on the Sri Guru Granth Sahib beadbi issue. On this one, I disagree. I will be attending [a Modi related function],” a key official of one local Sikh organisation told Asia Samachar when contacted over the phone.

The note from the Task Force:

THESE ARE THE DECISIONS MADE BY THE TASK FORCE ON BEHALF of 22 SIKH ORGANISATIONS AND 125 GURDWARAS ON 16 NOVEMBER 2015 IN GURDWARA SAHIB PETALING JAYA ON THE RESPONSE OF THE SIKH COMMUNITY ON PM MODI’S VISIT TO MALAYSIA.

PETALING JAYA RESOLUTION

1. Letter to be sent to the High Commission of India, KL on 2 issues:-

a) Disappointment that there has been no response to the memorandum handed over to them 3 weeks ago.

b) Disappointed that the PM of India has failed to issue any meaningful and honest statement regrading the desecration of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and violations of human rights against the peaceful Sikh protesters.

2. Letter to the Sikh sanggat of Malaysia stating the sanggat’s collective stand in not attending any function held in conjuction with the PM Modi’s visit to Malaysia.

3. To publicise the collective stand of Malaysian Sikh sanggat across all media channels that are available.

4. All Sikh NGOs/individuals are advised to stay away and not attend any function or programme held in conjunction with the visit of PM Modi, due to PM Modi’s failure to issue a statement condemning the attacks on the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and the violations of human rights against the Sikh protesters.

Therefore, we would like to request all Malaysian Sikh sanggat to stand as one and strongly support these decisions made as a symbol of togetherness and love for the panth.

Task Force,

16 November 2015.

[ASIA SAMACHAR is an online newspaper for Sikhs in Southeast Asia and surrounding countries. We have a Facebook page, do give it a LIKE. Follow us on Twitter. Visit our website: www.asiasamachar.com]

4 COMMENTS

It is a predicament with the Sikhs that no matter can be discussed civilisedly!People come under different IDs to impress points, that are often unsubstantiated anyway.Most times, these argumentative characters are out of the brief of the topic.The mind set of Sikhs involved in such discussions often offers a disturbing glimpse into the type of intolerance, teaching and respect for another Sikh.

Promoting intolerance is often the work of low down parasites, who do not want betterment of the community, or think only their way is the right way.Forgetting the collective mindset in Sikh Panth is very important, as a minority community, we cannot afford disunity and opposing groups, within especially those infected with disease of mischief,false alleagtiosn ,imagined self concocted stories, simply point to a mind of a narcisstic unintelligent , lacking self esteem, and acting imbellicly!

Diverting away from this topic, it is in circumstances similar, that Sikhs got short changed for Punjabi Suba in 1965, and more losses resulted in silly demands, that caused further loss of lives.

WE need to keep away from such cammellionised characters…that come under different false ids and names.

Dear Readers. Thank you for the comments [mostly at the Asia Samachar Facebook page]. It is always a delight to have reader engagement. We request that we maintain the desired etiquette when sharing our views. Be as forceful as you like, but remain civil, honest and ever open to learning. We had just deleted two comments: one for using foul language, another making direct personal attack. While on this subject, we also encourage readers to share the comments at the Asia Samachar website. Later on, it will be easier to refer the comments posted at the website compared to on the Facebook page. Thanvaad.

THIS is the ONLY and best course of action to show the Sikh disappointment and anger over the ill treatment of Sikhs and insensitivity towards Sikh related issues in India.Naming those, from the Community,who do attend without an iota of loyalty to the Sikh faith and community, is the right of the Sikh public/sangat to know .Then leave the SHAMING of such people and their opportunistic organisations to the Sikh sangat.

For all his sometimes poor actions, Sr Inderjit Singh, Lord, has done service to the community in UNITED KINGDOM by boycotting the meeting with Modi.

SHAME, Bhai Mahinder Singh of Nishkaam Sewa Jatha, Birmingham, and SCUK acted through the back door and got a slap in the face, when Modi gave them 15 minutes, without any response, and gave them a slap in the face.
Kudos those in Malaysia who have chosen the appropriate course of action.

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Asia Samachar is an independent news portal for Sikhs in Southeast Asia. We are present in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. We also have also reported on Myanmar, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.